Borneo baby in more ways than one! oh...and Orangutans and Mount Kinabulu

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Borneo! Borneo! Borneo! What more can we say, truly amazing place and we have loved our time here.

Hired a car as we knew we would be covering serious miles here if we wanted to see what we wanted. First stop was Mount Kinabulu, well at least half way up (2000mtrs) above sea level, the summit is at 4000mtrs. Stayed in a beautiful nature resort right in the rain forest. Views was spectacular and so was the wildlife around us, so soothing at nighttime to listen to the jungle do its thing (rain and animal chorus). We walked a couple of the trails, very hard going as the only direction is up the mountain, think Himalayas/Everest.......

Saw a few of the beautiful pitcher plant, different species from in the Cameron Highlands, this one was the largest. Our guide Margaret showed us lots of wild orchids and other plants native to Borneo. Mount Kinabulu Park is a botanists idea of heaven and botanists some from all over the world to see the flora and fauna.

Sadly we didnt get to climb Mount Kinabulu as no spaces left as left booking too late. Having seen the scale I was quite glad as I dont think I would have made it anyway, very steep and dont have the best of heads for height. Adam would have been fine though.

There was an Asian Endurance Downhill race on in the town just below us so we ventured down to watch a bit of it. Lots of crazy asians risking life and limb on a course which went out onto the road into oncoming traffic. Some of these competitors was on our flight over here so good to see what they was up to.

We went to the Poring Hot Springs and boiled alive in the hot springs, then wandered into Ranau town for eats. Not a westerner in sight, totally local and from the welcome we got dont think they was used to seeing many westerners (especially ones with ginger beards). Had a wander in our local town on way home and watched them all selling their wares, bought some unidetifiable fruit which was lovely. Had more local eats.....

So the time came to leave the mountain (hey, I feel like a proper Walton now) early doors.........another bloody alarm....and head over to Sepilok to see the Orangutans! It's a five hour drive but OMG so worth it when we got there, although the drive over was beautiful and sad at the same time. We drove through at least 80km of Palm Oil Plantations and this is one of the main reasons why Orangutans and Sun Bears are in fast decline and need protecting.The rainforests are getting smaller and the plantations are getting bigger. Folks - we can do a little to lessen the impact here by trying where possible to buy products that only contain sustainable palm oil, having seen the devestation first hand pleeeeeeeaaaaaase do your own tiny little bit......as Tesco says " every little helps "

Did the usual bags dumped and go get us some action! Within an hour we was amogst the most beautiful animals this world has to offer. Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre is doing some amazing work and its main aim to is rehabilitate orangutans that have been orphaned or have lost their habitat due to deforestation to make way for palm oil plantations. It was founded by an English lady in the 60's, google it and find out more......

We spent 2 days here and watched 3 lots of feeding, there is no human contact and there is no guarantee that an orangutan will come to the feeding platform. I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking......

There is also a sun bear rehabilitation centre there too and again they are doing excellent work. These poor bears are in the same sad situation as the orangutans.

Well......the title of this blog says Borneo baby in more ways than one.........we have some news..........there will be another ginger in the house.......and another godwin mouth to feed.......Please welcome our new addition Beryl.......she is adorable and 3 years old and in the first stage of her rehabilitation. We have adopted her and will continue to do so until her release back into the wild. We have taken a photo of the calender she features in so you can coo over her at your leisure....

We leave Sepilok tomorrow and heading back to Kota Kinabulu before flying to Singapore. This part of our trip has been so special and we leave a piece of our hearts here and of course with Beryl, she is already very special to us and for the small amount of money it cost to sponsor her we feel that we have done our bit to keep the good work done here going.

That's all for now folks, peace out y' all xx



P.s soz for the spelling mistakes in last blog, one too many tiger beers me thinks......

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